Am I imagining it but years ago we didnt have...

[Champion1969]

Harvest mites, Sarcoids, Grass sickness, Lice? And now garlic is bad so is hoof oil and so many more things or was I just so ignorant in my youth?

Owning a horse this time round has caused me to be a nervous wreck, and that's before being in the saddle

 

[Clava]

Harvest mites, Sarcoids, Grass sickness, Lice? And now garlic is bad so is hoof oil and so many more things or was I just so ignorant in my youth?

Owning a horse this time round has caused me to be a nervous wreck, and that's before being in the saddle

Well years ago I remember sarcoids and lice and mites, but that would only be from about 40 years ago...and we never fed garlic! lol.

 

[Champion1969]

I must have been ignorant, and had perfect horses in that case

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Well years ago I remember sarcoids and lice and mites, but that would only be from about 40 years ago...and we never fed garlic! lol.

Ditto ^ and also grass sickness, all going on in same time-frame as Clava mentions

 

[siennamum]

We tragically lost a homebred to GS in the late 70's.

Sarcoids were called warts tho......

 

[Bedlam]

What we didn't have was dentists, 'back people', anything but a jute stable rug and canvas New Zealand, mixes and balancers or any of the plethora of feed additives and training aides that seem to be must haves now......I have never owned a body protector and my first hat was kept on by a length of elastic. The next one had a chin strap that actually went over my chin.

From a veterinary perspective we didn't have scintigraphy or MRI or even easy to access x-rays and ultrasound scanners or endoscopy, so lameness was dealt with by turning away for a good long time, and we never knew about kissing spines or ulcers - the things that everyone seems to suggest immediately for every ridden problem encountered these days.

I think things are generally better these days, but I suspect that having horses was a more limited back then and the people that had them probably had generations of experience behind them and more acres to keep them - hence it being easier to turn away for a good long time without any financial implications. I certainly think that a lot of mild lameness would probably go away after a year turned away without expensive scans and diagnoses.

 

[jessieblue]

Haha, this thread is showing our age lol!! I lost a horse to grass sickness mid 70s too. I had never heard of it though but vet knew straight away so obviously was not a new thing. We didnt have education or internet either. Veterinary manuals, physiotherapists or back people or at least not where I came from!! Jute rugs with a big old blanket underneath held on with a roller and a nifty bit of folding and tucking!(I miss that!) We didnt have hayage or mix feed. But a myriad of bins containing bran oats barley sugar beet maize hahaha and bone meal!! Anyone remember bone meal?? God knows we knew b****r all really. We didnt have saddle fitters either, used to buy a saddle and plop it on with a pad or two underneath!! Maybe I am just older than everyone else. Yes horses were prescribed rest, in a paddock, not box rest!! As many people didnt have the luxury of a stable! I had a horse that injured an tendon and it was bandaged up and turned away for 3 months came back good as gold!!

 

[JillA]

Sweetitch? Only ever knew of one in many years of keeping horses until about 15 years ago. Could it be coincidence that there were never that many proprietory forms of feed, just oats, barley, bran and beet pulp if you could get hold of it? Spillers pony nuts or stud cubes were all I remember.

 

[Champion1969]

I have never owned a body protector and my first hat was kept on by a length of elastic. The next one had a chin strap that actually went over my chin.

I could do with a chin strap these days, may stop face wobble in old age lol

And back protectors, I don't think I would get one near my boobs, yes Sarcoids may have been warts, but I cant remember being afraid of those like I am now.

 

[Aarrghimpossiblepony]

Sweetitch? Only ever knew of one in many years of keeping horses until about 15 years ago. Could it be coincidence that there were never that many proprietory forms of feed, just oats, barley, bran and beet pulp if you could get hold of it? Spillers pony nuts or stud cubes were all I remember.

And plain chaff, made by the farmers and delivered in hessian sacks that had to be returned to be refilled.

That's what I miss now. Got the sugar beet and the oats/barley, just can't get the plain chaff.

Reading here is enough of a scare to send me running back to the past.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Nope! We didn't have any of the modern stuff. Fleeces were still to be invented; technical fabrics were "Tomorrow's World" (don't worry young'uns, you won't remember this!!). And as for synthetic tack, well I know my dear old PC DC would have had a seizure, bless 'er, at the thought of all of us kids growing up to be horsey gals and riding out sitting on plastic!

We had mangers then, not haynets; fly stuff actually WORKED, plus rugs were jute rugs with a surcingle for inside, NZ turnout for everything else. And no other rugs.

Feed wasn't complex like now; the thing to avoid then for fizzy ponies was oats!!! (i.e. the old saying, "the best whip is in the corn-bin"). Concentrates as we know them, just didn't exist back then.

We didn't have the traffic on the roads back then; the drivers that DID encounter horses were more savvy and gave you space. Not that you needed to be on the roads so much coz there was far more access to off-road riding back then. Unfortunately in my neck of the woods a lot of these well-used tracks were never registered as Public ROW's and so have been lost.

Ah well...... the price of progress I guess.

 

[jessieblue]

I could do with a chin strap these days, may stop face wobble in old age lol

And back protectors, I don't think I would get one near my boobs, yes Sarcoids may have been warts, but I cant remember being afraid of those like I am now.

Well I dont remember being afraid of most things that scare the hell out of me now!! Hacking on the roads, falling off, jumping, driving in the dark, bright lighting and BACK FAT!! hehe!!
Brightly coloured brow bands with a webbed girth to match!! Ahhh!!

 

[jessieblue]

Ooooh and the farrier was called a blacksmith!!

 

[Pale Rider]

I reckon horses were healthier in themselves years ago. They weren't fed so much rubbish and sugar, they spent less time imitating hamsters.

 

[noodle_]

i was ignorant

i knew about colic but it was "rare" !.......

grass sickness i didn thave a clue (do now!).....


hay was also £1.75 a bale. and straw was £1.25 - so yes a lonnggg time ago

 

[AMW]

sarcoids were called angleberries way back then.............
you did get laminitis and you brought them in and starved them for a few days
navicular was the 'new' disease and you never heard of kissing spines

 

[Champion1969]

Gosh Jute rugs take me back!

 

[Holly Hocks]

I remember when there were two nosebands - cavesson or flash - that was your choice!

 

[AMW]

no it used to be cavesson or drop. when flash nosebands came in they were all the rage

 

[mulberrymill]

All haynets were made of heavy jute rope, and when they broke anywhere, (basically every time they got wet or dirty) we had to hang them up and mend them. Only threw them away when there were more mends than original net.
Hay was baled using lightweight jute string and the kids had to save it and plait them up ready for haynet repairs.
We knew about recycling in those days!!

 

[eggs]

When I first had a pony we never saw Ragwort - now I can't seem to go anywhere without seeing it flourishing.

We all kept bottles of colic drench in our feed rooms but never used them.

An old school vet once told me years ago that the biggest damage to hit the horse world was the proliferation of maneges as in his view horses spent too much time on the turn when they are better suited to straight lines.

Plastic chin cups on the 'new' crash caps that gave you spots.

Great big heavy anti-cast rollers.

An aged horse was one over 8 years old.

 

[pines of rome]

It was so much simpler years ago and far less stressful, who remembers the hideous jodphurs we wore before we had stretch ones! Just remembering all the mentioned things has made me feel extremely old!!!!!!!

 

[Bedlam]

Laminitis in a section A - teatment was to keep her moving and stand her in a river for half an hour every day...... !!!!

And that was on the DC's yard!!!!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

i was ignorant

hay was also £1.75 a bale. and straw was £1.25 - so yes a lonnggg time ago

Pah - hay was 50p a bale off the field or 80p delivered & straw delivered in at 40-60p a bale as I recall when a nipper

no it used to be cavesson or drop. when flash nosebands came in they were all the rage

Definately cavesson or drop, the cavesson's were all usually flat but the more 'posh' girls had stitched cross patterns across the nose part, which matched browbands
Then the grakle came in big time in the mid 70's (blame the showjumpers) then the flash followed that.....

Livery was £5 per week in our 'posh' area in the 70's & £1 a night for a stable if pony was sick.

Mind you, I was charging £25 a week DIY in around late 1980's to early 90's - I think its the only thing that has not gone up over the years!

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

Sweetitch? Only ever knew of one in many years of keeping horses until about 15 years ago. Could it be coincidence that there were never that many proprietory forms of feed, just oats, barley, bran and beet pulp if you could get hold of it? Spillers pony nuts or stud cubes were all I remember.

It definitely did exist cos it's in the pony books written in the 50s and 60s, although they seem to think ponies catch it if they get into the feed shed and eat things they shouldn't.....but from the description it is definitely SI they are talking about, and it is emphasised with capital letters that it is Incurable....

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

When I used to wait for a lift to my riding lesson I would stand at the end of our drive in fawn jodhpurs, yellow turtleneck, tweed jacket and well dubbined second hand jodhpurs boots. The riding hats were owned by the riding school and had elastic to keep them on, no strap. If it didn't fall off when you bent down, it fitted.

 

[Dry Rot]

Well, we didn't have contraception years ago when I was a lad! (Thinking of another thread on here which made me go quite pink when I glanced at it!). We had something far more effective!;

Yes, you could get "something for the weekend" from the barber if you were brave enough. The chemist was out because it would always be the pretty female assistant who came up to serve you, then you'd have to ask for indigestion pills or something inocuous. And if you got a girl pregnant, you'd have to marry her. Now that was scary!

No, we had acne, bad breath, BO, no car, no money, and her dad would be waiting up until she got home (before 10pm). Now that is safe sex!

 

[Flora]

Diastemas, cushings, Prp, Stem cell? How on earth did we manage to have healthy horses before!! Veterinary care was definitely a lot cheaper back then!

Pony clubbing meant drag your not very expensive pony in out of the field, quick brush and hack over to where it was held. Nowadays, its thousand of pounds spent on a pony, groomed to perfection and drive up in fancy car and trailer or lorry!

Wonder if life was happier with a horse in the years gone by!

 

[Gloi]

There was sweet itch around back in the day. What there wasn't was sweet itch rugs or knowledge as to why they got it. It was thought by some to be a condition of fat ponies. Another reason why not so many were seen was that they often got so bad that they were pts as was the case of one a friend had. Without rugs and fly protection or electric fences being common I remember seeing bleeding ponies with no mane or tail in terrible states that would be reported today but other than being pts people didn't know how to deal with it.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Sweet-itch? Yes, definately around in late 60's - the stench of the Benzyl benzoate still sticks with me even now. My mothers best friends pony suffered dreadfully with it & was covered twice daily in the BB as well as being kept behind electric fence - the thin orangey string type on metal pig-tailed posts.